Tube frame for tuft weaving



July 14, 1925. 1,545,809

w. BIXBY TUBE FRAME FOR TUFT WEAVING Filed Nov. 6, 1923 tubes are inserted Patented July 14, 1925.

WALTER BIXBY, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,

Assreivon T0 SHAWMUT ENGINEER- ING COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHU- SETTS.

" 'riIEE FRAME roe TUFT WEAVING.

Application filed November 6, 1923. Serial No; 673,055.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WALTER BIXBY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tube Frames for T uft \Veaving, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relatesto tube frames for tuft weavingcommonly used in the manufacture of Axminster carpets and other similar tuft fabrics, and isintended to provide an improved means for securing the individual tuft tubes firmly and accurately in operative relationship to the carrier bar forming the backbone of the tube frame.

In my earlier. pending application for U. S. Patent Serial No. 541,321, I described and illustrated a tube frame. construction in which the individual tuft tubes were sup-- ported in an aperture or slotted channel bar secured to the face of the carrier bar, the individual tubes being inserted through both of the parallel wings of the channelbar and being detachably' interlocked with one of said wings or flanges to facilitate removal of individual tubes without disturbing others. For most kinds of work this double flanged channel bar is entirely satisfactory. In some cases, however, where the tuft tubes are required to be very short for any special reason, such construction is' inapplicable, and the present invention is intended to provide a very firm and reliable means of connecting the tube frame to the carrier bar, provision beingmade at the same time to prevent the chafing of the yarn against rough edges or contacts.

To this end the present improvement is characterized by a tube-carrying and spacingattaching member secured against the front face of the carrier bar and having its upper edge portion, that is, the edge nearest the yarn-spool, formed with a projecting guard and tube-retaining ledge 01' rib, and at its lower portion with a single outwardly projecting tube-supporting and spacing slotted flange or ledge in which the individual and held, the intake ends of the tubes being secured by solder or equivalent means directly to the guard ledge which latter acts, by reason of its outward projection or overhang to protect the yarn from any roughness caused by the applied solder. As the solder need be applied on only to the upper end edges of the tubes abutting against the under side of the guard ledge, since the slotted flange affords a firm spacing support for the body of the tube, a firm anchorage of the tubes is secured which canreadily be disrupted in case it is desired toremove any individual tube from the'tube-attaching member. These and other features of the invention will be particularly explained in the following specification and will be defined in the claim hereto annexed.

In the accompanying drawings I have il lustrated a preferred form embodying the principles of the present improvement, in which:" a

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the tube frame and its yarn-spool. s Figure 21s a detail showing in perspective individual tubes inserted and attached to the tube-attachingplate or member.

I In Figure lot the drawings I have shown the tube frame embracing the usual yarnspool 1, with its flanged heads 2, journalled in bearing brackets 3, which form the supporting connections between the carrier bar 6 and the yarn-spool. The carrier bar is supported by any usual or suitable suspension means, such as the well known suspension arm 4, and hook arm 5, for releasably suspending the tube frame as a whole from an overhead carrier chain, not here shown.

Since the tuft tubes, on each cycle of operation, must pass between the warp threads in the loom, it is obvious that they must be very accurately and uniformly spaced and must beheld firmly in such spaced parallel relationship. Moreover, as the individual tubes are made of thin sheet metal they are subject to injury, and when any of them become bent or distorted they should be readily replaceable with perfect tubes.

, The tube-supporting and attaching member in this case comprises a longitudinal strip 7, whose middle or body portion rests flat against the front face of the carrier bar 6, which, in this case, is shown of tubular construction and is secured thereto in any suitable manner, as by attaching screws 10. At its upper edge, that is, the edge I Sfi conforming in shape to thecross section;

of the body portion of the tuft tubes 11, so that the tuft tubes, which-are tapered, may be inserted and seated therein from above with their extreme intake end edges abutting against the lower side of the guard rib 8.

lVhen theindividual tuft tubes have been inserted inthis position they must necessarily stand in parallelism and at uniformly spaced intervals to permit their delivery ends to properly pass between the "warp threads. A verylight touch of solder ap plied to the extreme edge atthe intake end serves to anchor each tube to the overhang ing guard rib 8. Inasmuch as the slotted tube-attaching rib forms a firmsupport for the intermediate or body portion of the tubes, the application of but very little sol der at the intake end edge is neeessary'to afford an adequately firm anchorage for the individual tubes and, therefore, this anchorage is easily disrupted when it is desired to remove any individual tube.

Ordinarily the application of solder at the intake edge of the tube would chafe the yarn, but as the solder in this case is applied below the outwardly projecting I or overhanging guard rib, the infeeding yarn, passing through the tubes, will be sufli combination with a longitudinal cientlyraised from the. points of application of the solder to prevent-chafing;

In consequence of this construction the tubes can be very rapidly and accurately applied to thez attaehing member and in- .dividual tubes can be very. easily removed itwill be understood that these members all) may be made ofany de sired lengtlrtosuit particular needs, and in the case of very narrow tube frames a single-section will suffice: i hat I claim is: J In a tube frame fortuft weaving, the carrier' barpalongitudinal tube-carrying and attachingstrip whose "upper and" lower edge port-ions are formed into integral outwardly projecting ledges," the lower" ledge being transversely slotted to receive and support the individual tuft tubes,-the upper ledge abutting against and overhanging-themtake edges of-inserted tuft tubes and forming a supplei'nental"tube-retaining member to which the tubes are secured, and means for detachably'securing the strip with its attached tuft-tul')es'-to the front face ofthe carrier-bar, substantially as described' lirwitness whereof, I have subscribed the W LTER BIXBY."

above specification. 

